21 April 2013

Today i had my last PFL P/u.t flight. I did a solo today .
So, in total, i had 1.2 solo n dual hours for today. It was quite warm in Singapore and some clouds were forming. My first few PFLs were a bit off the centreline due to relatively strong crosswinds.

For my solo flight, The ATC gave me a new route that i didn't take before. I went to the runway via the newly opened taxiway.

In the air, at around 2000 feet, i flew into some clouds unintentionally as the i misjudged the height of the cloud. But, in the end, i manage to find an opening in the cloud and did some max rate turns to fly out of the cloud. On the next PFL, i was at the late downwind position when the ATC ask me to descend  from 2000 feet to land. I was unable to do so, so i descended to 800 feet and go around . After going around, i positioned for another approach to land. On the landing, i encountered some wind shear, but i managed to bring the plane down. A few minutes later, it started to rain heavily.

First take off, turning for downwind

I'm BACK!

Okay, after a month spent in China studying, i am back in Sunny and hot Singapore. I have just flown a few days back and it was my first time in the cockpit, at the controls for a long time I did some circuits and the crosswind components was at around 9 knots( manageable ). My first few touch and goes were not very well done. I.e, there were a few bounces. But after a while, while practising my practice Forced Landing, the landings were getting better. I had to hold at 2500 feet for a while due to Circuit traffic, and had to go around once as i misjudged the distance between the plane in front of me and me as sufficient. The visibility was marginal VMC.

Flapless Circuits

have been doing flapless circuits for my past few sorties:) and i am loving it more than the normal circuit!

The landing is smoother on my flapless circuit :)

Solo Check + 1st Solo :)

Date: 21 November 2012, Wednesday

Time: 0400UTC - 0445 UTC

Location: WSSL, Seletar, Singapore

Plane: Diamond DA40

Callsign: 9V-YFK

Weather: Awesome:) Hot about 30degrees Celsius 

Wind: 04008knts 

Instructor: Chief Flying Instructor: Tan SK

Started the day late because the CFI was holding some interviews. so the take/off time was postponed by 10 minutes to 0400UTC.

All the checks were done normally with no abnormal indications.

After i commed seletar ground n seletar tower, i backtracked runway 03 n lined up for takeoff.

The plane had an unusual tendency to drift left during the takeoff roll n i used a lot more rudder than usual just to keep on the runway centreline. The upwind leg was a bit slow. at 200 feet, the speed was hovering around 65 and a had a 200feet positive rate of climb... but the airspeed picked up n i regained the climbing speed of 75 knots on the crosswind leg.

The downwind leg was quite turbulent and fast due to a strong tailwind. the checks were done normally. i turned base and final and did a touch & Go.

On the upwind leg of the next circuit, i was adviced to make a landing due to a jet arrival. On that circuit, i had simulated engine failure and completed the checks and climber away at 200 feet. The approach was pretty normal except for Final when the wind strength suddenly picked up and i ended up slightly low on the glideslope. I taxyed to E3 taxiway and taxied to parking bay A54. The solo check has ended:)

I did the before takeoff checks and the instructor exited the plane and went into the tower. I had a Comms check with him on Skylark Ops channel and he cleared me to go. I contacted Seletar Ground on my 1st ever time using my Callsign!!!!!

So i contacted ground and i was given clearance to E3 taxiway. I think that the female ATC knew it was my first solo :) LOL so i switched to tower and was cleared to backtrack runway 03 and subsequently takeoff:)

The circuit i flown was one of the bet ever! I felt so relax in the cockpit when there is no one beside me:) The plane was so well trimmed on the downwind leg the plane flew on its own :) i intercepted the glideslope just nice and i r/t final. I was given clearance to land and the landing was awesome! I just kissed the ground on the centreline!

At the end, the instructor got onto the plane and taxied back to SYFC parking shed 6. it was an awesome sorties and the landing was memorable:) I cant wait for my next sortie :)

Sortie 14 Completed :)

Annyeong~ :)

Plane: 9V-YFO
Diamond DA40.
Flight time: 0.6 hours
WSSL, Seletar.

Instructor: Tan SK, SYFC's Chief Flying Instructor

Sortie Overview:

Strong headwind on landing. About 10 knots
Turbulence on Upwind and crosswind
Uneventful downwind and landing.
landed due to thunderstorm warning that didn't happen until 2.5 hours later...

It was a wonderful flight! Wonderful is an understatement.
This was easily the best flight i have ever had in my 14 flights so far:)

The preflight brief was almost non-existent. All the CFI did was to ask me 1 or 2 questions and then i was able to walk out.. Since my i was cleared to do fly solo, bar flying hours.

All nervousness vanished as i started the engines and taxied out to taxiway yankee

The flight was basically uneventful. Although my downwind leg was rather short due to a 10 knots tailwind during the leg.

So to sum it all up, it was a great circuit and looks like i am going to do my solo flight on the next flight:)

Annyeong~

Sortie 12 Completed:)

Sortie 12 was another circuit training sortie at seletar airport:)

The weather was calm with few clouds in the sky.

But the major factor was the wind!
 The wind kept on changing direction. For example, at take/off, it was a headwind which develops into headwind at crosswind leg. On downwind, it was a crosswind, while on base it was a tailwind. Thus the wind really had an effect on my flying
But, my sortie in 9V-YFK was still excellent:) My parameters were accurate and the landing was smooth:)
Looking forward to my next sortie on wednesday!

1st solo anytime from this thursday to this Saturday:)

Sortie number 9!

This is the start of my Circuits training :)))) Well the main idea is to practice takeoff and landings!

I done this exercise in minimum VMC conditions. Throughout the sortie, i was hoping that the Seletar tower will not tell us to land! There is a slight drizzle about halfway through the sortie and we had to land to allow a jet to arrive.

I learnt the taxying procedures on the Eastern side of the runway and was having a mini debrief session in that period of time before taking off again. My performance in the second half of the sortie was better because i know what to expect, was calmer, and know what to look out for!.

Surprisingly, my landings were generally good! In my first few attempts to land, it was done in crosswind and tailwind conditions! So it was actually a good experience for me to execute crosswind landings!

However i know i have to improve further! For example my go around procedure is still a little slow and have to be more aware of the number of aircrafts in the circuits especially when the college planes are practising their Touch & Go and the planes in the training area comes back to land!

Overall, Sortie 9 was a good learning experience and i am grateful to have a wonderful flying instructor!!

Thank you Mr Toh!!!

To all, have a Good Day/ Night :)